Celebrating its fifth year of success, ACCORDIONS NOW! Music Festival, co-sponsored by New Hampshire Accordion Association and Accordion Connection LLC, is proud to announce its expanded festival lineup for Friday-Saturday, August 17-18, 2012 at the beautiful Courtyard Marriott, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA.
Terrific music, warm friendship, and high spirits characterize this annual gathering of accordion fans. Sign up, bring your accordion, and join the fun!
Check out this exciting schedule [subject to change]:
Friday, August 17: 3pm hotel check-in, informal welcome to ACCORDIONS NOW! by New Hampshire Accordion Association members, 6pm Open Mike Cabaret, 8pm Concert by Brent Buswell, photo ops, CD signing, Post-concert Open Mike Part II, Night Owls Jam Session until ?.
Saturday, August 18: 8:30am ACCORDIONS NOW! Registration opens 9am Vendor displays all day until 4pm. Starting at 9am morning workshops by Sam Falcetti, Christopher Gorton, Jeremiah McLane & Annemieke Spoelstra [piano], 11:30am festive luncheon buffet with musical welcome by Nancy Leonard, 12:30pm Lowell Accordion Orchestra conducted by Donna Michael, 1pm Jeremiah McLane & Annemieke Spoelstra [piano], 1:30pm Just-for-Fun Play-Along Ensemble coordinated by Dan Mackowiak, 2pm jam session [non-ANFO players], 2pm ANFO rehearsal, 4pm Donna Maria Regis, solo and conducting the ACCORDIONS NOW! 2012 Festival Orchestra, 4:45pm cocktail reception [cash bar] with entertainment by Carmen Vitanza, 5:45 pm Gala Dinner, 7:15pm Gala Concert performances by Christopher Gorton, Tony Lovello; photo ops, CD signing; Post-concert optional Play-Along and/or Night Owls Jam Session until ?.
Friday evening offers a casual atmosphere, with attendees gathering informally in the Granite State Room for the open mike cabaret, a lively concert by Brent Buswell, and an open-ended jam session. Food and beverages purchased in the Courtyard Café may be brought in during the open mike session.
Saturday morning is devoted to three educational sessions: a workshop by noted educator Sam Falcetti, “How to Enhance a Song Using Left-Hand Decorations, Changes, & Other Easy-to-Learn Techniques”; a master class by multi-champion Christopher Gorton, with volunteers from the audience, in the championship-producing Deschamps Teaching Method; and a lecture-demonstration, “Arranging Solo Piano Works for Accordion and Piano,” by master accordionist Jeremiah McLane and Dutch classical piano virtuoso Annemieke Spoelstra.
Saturday afternoon emphasizes ensemble-playing:
The Lowell Accordion Orchestra, conducted by Donna Michael, will celebrate its 40th anniversary in a concert including “Last Dance” as a tribute to the late Donna Summer, a medley from “Sound of Music,” plus the world premiere of an original arrangement of “Party Rock Anthem” by teenage orchestra member Rachel Quirbach.
Jeremiah McLane & Annemieke Spoelstra [piano] will perform an eclectic concert program, with works by composers Astor Piazzolla, Bela Bartok, Antonin Dvorak, Francis Poulenc and Alan Hovhaness as well as several of Jeremiah’s own compositions.
If you enjoy making music as part of a group, Saturday afternoon offers you two opportunities to participate: the Just-for-Fun [no rehearsal] Play-Along Ensemble – new this year and sure to be a hit – plus the ever-popular ACCORDIONS NOW! Festival Orchestra [ANFO], with over 30 players already registered.
Dan Mackowiak, former president of the Massachusetts Accordion Association [MAAA], will coordinate the informal play-along session. The music is arranged to be accessible to most players, but still be interesting to more experienced players. “The play-along,” Dan says, “serves two purposes: first, it gives everyone an opportunity to actively participate; and second, it provides a warm-up for players involved in [later] activities [such as ANFO]…While the music is distributed in advance, there is no rehearsal. So, the play-along involves a lot of spontaneity.” Music for the Play-Along will be sent in advance to all registrants, who are free to accept or decline the invitation to play-along.
The ACCORDIONS NOW! Festival Orchestra [ANFO] conducted by Donna Maria Regis, requires participants to make a considerable commitment of time and effort to prepare for the annual concert, which this year will showcase the exciting world premiere of “Sinatra” – Tony Lovello’s magnificent musical tribute to “Ol’ Blue Eyes.” (As a youth, Lovello, formerly of the legendary Three Suns [“Twilight Time,” “Peg o’ My Heart”] and now a “living legend” himself, toured with Sinatra.) To be part of this once-in-a-lifetime musical experience you must register for ACCORDIONS NOW! 2012 no later than July 20 to receive your ANFO music and practice sound clips. Don’t miss this chance to be involved in something wonderful!
Saturday evening’s Gala Concert features two outstanding soloists.
Christopher Gorton, the 2010 US Roland Champion and winner of many other competitions, will present a variety of musical styles – classical, popular, ethnic, and others – all sure to please.
Tony Lovello – “the living legend of the accordion world” and “King of the Bellow Shake” – will bring the Gala Concert to a close with his inimitable flair and effervescent showmanship. As Tony would say, but in a different context, “Don’t miss it!”
Come to New Hampshire to celebrate the ACCORDIONS NOW! motto: LOTS OF ACCORDIONS, LOTS OF MUSIC, LOTS OF FUN!!
Special hotel rates: $91 per room [+ tax] through July 27. Call Marriott Worldwide (800) 321-2211 or Courtyard Nashua (603) 880-9100. Mention “ACCORDIONS NOW! Festival, Courtyard Nashua.”
For more information:
ACCORDIONS NOW! Telephone (603) 216-9582 or Email AccordionsNow@yahoo.com
